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Thursday, July 27, 2006

Slightly longer gap than I had intended. Note to self: if you want a loyal readership, you need to write more often.

Lots going on (holiday, family christening - I'm now a madrina!† - working on our new flat in London*, family funeral, minor ear infection, major migraine, work stuff, CD1). Nothing much has happened, really, except an oddly cramp-free second half of my cycle, which seems to happen about one cycle in three. I've started taking my temperature, probably completely mad of me but it is curbing my stick-peeing addiction slightly and not stressing me out too much. And I had a friendly conversation with the miscarriage nurse from Liverpool.

They do not offer any private services because, I think, they wouldn't be able do it any quicker privately. Given what I've heard about some of the private IVF places here, it doesn't really surprise me. Yes, this is the same hospital as Dr Quenby but I have been referred to a different doctor. If I'm not offered that test, I'll ask for it, but given my history it seems more likely to be either my age or clotting. The local hospital couldn't do/re-do the tests they were going to do but the miscarriage clinic wants to redo them all anyway so there's no point in pushing it locally.

Re the IVF/IUI debate: Mr Spouse thinks, and I am inclined to agree with him, that IVF is just a more expensive, and more invasive, way of getting to the same point we've got to before. IUI is more invasive than nothing, but since it seems to be difficult for us to get pregnant (two years, two/three pregnancies, and no babies) it might be quicker - I don't want to run out of reproductive time before my luck improves.

But currently I think I would rather go down the adoption route unless something definitive is found, as although IUI does increase your chances of pregnancy if you have unexplained infertility, it would not then help with the miscarriages. Adoption feels like so much more positive step, even if it is not (as a well-meaning relative said at the funeral) "something to do while you're waiting". Oh yes. Must remember to mention it to my mum before she hears from some other relative!

*As a friend of mine said, he was too old to be a babe magnet, and he didn't want to be a fridge magnet, so he was going to have to be a property magnate. An inheritance was left us, and the suggestion was that we use it to buy a holiday cottage. London is the only place we want to spend holidays regularly, and we have bitten the bullet and become second-home-owners. It might make us a bit of cash too. We are going down again this weekend - it's quite odd doing all this hard work when we aren't going to live in it, but it is nice to make a place simple, in an oddly satisfying way.

†Godmother - to my niece, who lives in Spain with my brother and his Spanish wife.

Saturday, July 01, 2006

We're about to go on holiday, so a longer gap than normal in blogging. But a quick phone call to the recurrent miscarriage clinic (and conversation with at least five people with comedy Scouse accents. OK, I know people in Liverpool really do talk like that, but if you don't go there regularly, it sounds funny) revealed that the first appointment available is on the 17th August, and they don't, as far as the temporary secretary knows, take private patients.

This will be an appointment to take bloods and set up further tests. So everything else will be even more delayed, whether it's IUI or adoption, the first of which no doubt also has a long waiting list (and even if it didn't, I think the gynae is probably right that we should not do it a the same time as the miscarriage investigations) or, more likely, adoption, where they usually ask for a gap between any fertility investigations and starting the process.